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Filipinos
'Filipinos '(Tagalog: Pinoys) are an Austronesian ethnic group from the Philippines. Filipinos are classified into smaller indegenous groups who speak their own dialects and languages. Filipino culture is a melting pot of Chinese, Arab, Indian, Malay, Spanish and western influences. Unfortunately, Filipinos share a rather oppressive history dating to the colonial era. Filipinos speak the Filipino language, which is based on a native dialect known as Tagalog. Etymology & Origin The term Filipino ''was first used by the Spanish colonists to refer to Hispanic people born in th e Philippines. The natives of the islands were known as ''indios ''or indegenous people. The term Philippines was rooted from Prince Philipps I of Spain and thus is who the islands were named after. Filipinos trace their origins back to China, Taiwan and the African island of Madagascar. For Taiwan and Madagascar are theorized to be the origins of Austronesian speakers. The Taiwanese lineage continued from the Philippines into Borneo down south. The Philippines became a series of Hindu and Buddhist empires and later with Muslims becoming involved. The southern Philippines became part of the sultanate of Brunei. Eventually the Philippines became an Islamic state, governed by Malays and Arabs. During the Age of Imperialism, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer claimed the islands for Spain. But he was killed by Rajah Lapu- Lapu, a Muslim chief in 1521 in battle. The Philippines then became a colony of Spain for 300 years thus 95% of the population was converted to Catholicism. José Rizal started an independance movement against the Spanish Empire becoming one of the Philippines's most renowned national heroes. In World War II, Filipinos found themselves fighting against the Japanese until the Americans liberated the islands in 1945. This is where the Philippines officially gained worldwide recognition as an independant country. By Country In the Philippines itself, there are 94,000,000 Filipinos inhabiting the islands. They belong to indegenous ethnic groups. This makes up the majority population of the Philippines. Due to poor living conditions and corruption, there are 11,000,000 Filipinos living outside of the Philippines. Due to the conflict over the Malaysian province of Sabah, between the Philippine and Malaysian governments, there are 636,544 Filipinos living in Malaysia. Most of them are the Muslims from Mindanao wanting to flee and escape the religious civil war in Mindanao. Filipinos make up one of the highest populations in Saudi Arabia and Dubai and one of the highest Asian and Asian-American populations in the United States. Filipino immigrants and direct descendants of those immigrants number about 3,053,000 together in the United States. There are generally 3,416,840 Americans with Filipino ancestry which applies to both descandants of Filipino immigrants or Americans with mixed ancestries including a Filipino ancestor. Visayans and Tagalogs make up the predominant Filipino ethnicities. Language Filipinos are an ethnicity who speak a wide variety of languages and dialects. Most Filipinos speak the Filipino language. The Filipino language is based off of Tagalog, a native dialect from the central Manila area. This is the national language of the Philippines and is what unites most Filipinos. Languages other than Tagalog spoken in Luzon are Ilocano and Bicol (sometimes spelled as Illokano and Bikol). In Visayas, the Filipino language is understood but barely spoken. Visayans speak their own dialects and languages. The languages of Visayas are known as the Central Philippine languages. The languages in Mindanao are known as the Southern Philippine languages. The languages spoken in Mindanao are related to the native dialects spoken in Borneo and Sulawesi, they are part of a bigger family known as the Borneo-Philippines Languages. Islam is still a minority language in the Philippines, the ethnic groups who still follow Islam are called ''Moros. Moros is a Spanish word referring to "Moors". The Moors were a Muslim empire that ruled Spain and Portugal. Ethnic groups such as the Tausūgs, Illanun and Marano are part of the Moro race. The Tausūg are also native to the Malaysian province of Sabah. The Tausūg language is closely related to Malay. It is called ''Bahasa Sūg ''in Tausūg and ''Bahasa Suluk ''in Malay. Chavacano is a Spanish Creole spoken in Zamboanga. Spanish is one of the biggest minority languages spoken in the Philippines. Long after the Philippines gained independance from Spain, Spanish still remained the official language until the 1970s. Religion and Architecture Most Filipinos are overwhemlingly Roman Catholics. This was due to the 300 years of Spanish colonization. The Spanish converted most Filipinos to the Catholic faith. There are also large numbers of Protestants and members of the Iglesia ni Christo (liiterally means ''Church of Christ ''in Tagalog). This is an independant branch of Christianity unique only to the Philippines. The name itself is of Spanish influence. Catholics make up about 90-95% of the total Filipino population. About 5-10% of Filipinos still follow Islam or either reverted to Islam. They live in the southwestern part of Mindanao and the entire Sulu Archipelago between Philippines and Malaysia. Visayas contains the country's Buddhist population. Filipino architecture highly reflects Mexican architecture. The churches in the Philippines are built Mexican Spanish style, since the Philippines was governed from Mexico City. Cuisine Filipino cuisine a melting pot of influences. Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Malay, Spanish and western influences are all found in the cuisine of the Philippines. Chinese and Spanish being the two bulging influences. Noodles called ''pancit ''in the Philippines are of Cantonese influence. A popular Filipino dish called ''pancit canton ''is based off of Cantonese noodles. Chinese desserts have also been twisted to form Filipino desserts. ''Lumpiang shangai ''is Filipino style egg rolls. Lechon is a popular Hispanic dish eaten in Cuba and Puerto Rico. This is a roasted pig and is the national dish of the Philippines. Flan is also a cultural dessert of the Philippines, also popular in all Hispanic countries. The breads and pastries in the Philippines also bear Spanish and Chinese names. ''Pan de sal ''is a sweet-Filipino style dinner roll. Commonly sold everywhere in the streets, markets and stores. Like Malays, Filipinos also eat with their hands. But utensils due to western influence has creeped its way into Filipino eating habits.